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Newmarket-Tay Power Distribution is electricity distribution company. It is licensed by the Ontario Energy Board who also approves any rate increases. The shareholders are the Town of Newmarket and Township of Tay. It is governed by a Board of Directors (http://www.nmhydro.on.ca/aboutus.asp) and the head office is located on Stevens Court in Newmarket. In 2004, Newmarket Hydro and Tay Hydro merged. In 2005, Newmarket Hydro was under the impression it had a deal to purchase Aurora Hydro. At the last minute, Powerstream made an offer and Aurora Council decided to sell their utility to Powerstream for $34.5M (http://blog.powerstream.ca/2005/03/aurora-agrees-to-sell-hydro-utility-to-powerstream). Currently Powerstream serves Barrie, Collingwood, Aurora, Bradford, Richmond Hill, Markham, Vaughan and surrounding areas. Newmarket-Tay Power Districution Ltd serves Newmarket consumers.

Powerstream serves 365,000 customers. It is jointly owned by Barrie, Markham and Vaughan. Powerstream is "committed to providing its customers with safe, reliable and efficient service. We achieve this goal by focusing on operational efficiencies and procedures in order to minimize overhead costs and maximize the use of company assets. In other words, if you are one of our customers, PowerStream strives to be efficient and provide you with optimum service, safely and reliably". Powerstream is a leader in providing accessible service to its customers. They take pride in supporting the communities that they serve. They are an environmental leader supporting solar technology, carpool initiatives and electric cars. They support innovation and have invested in customer friendly technology including the smart grid. I have had an opportunity to tour Powerstream and meet with key executives including the CEO. I was very impressed and consider Powerstream to be a first class company providing outstanding service within their territory. I strongly believe Newmarket would be better served under Powerstream.

A potential sale of Newmarket Hydro to Powerstream would have many benefits for Newmarket residents. Broadband infrastructure could potentially be negotiated into the sale utilizing hydro poles. Newmarket is currently over $50M in debt. Selling Newmarket Hydro would set us on the path to becoming a debt free municipality as is currently the case in Brampton. Debt comes within interest charges and a sale of Newmarket Hydro would eliminate these interest payments neutralizing any lost revenue from dividends currently paid to the Town of Newmarket from Newmarket-Tay Hydro. Newmarket consumers would receive be better served by Powerstream's communication efforts, community support and smart grid technologies. There would be few job losses as most Newmarket Hydro workers would be hired by Powerstream to serve the new territory. Economies of scale would reduce Newmarket hydro bills. Clearly it does not make sense to operate as a small island surrounded by Powerstream territories.

I have intentionally not mentioned the sale price that Newmarket Hydro would generate. I do not want to prejudge the outcome as this would have to be negotiated. A merger is also possible, but would not result in Newmarket becoming a debt free community. My preference would be selling to Powerstream, but the process should be open to all bidders who might be interested. I have been asked by Newmarket residents how I will pay for my platform. The sale of Newmarket Hydro would make us a debt free community and would leave additional funds to pay for some of the initiatives I have discussed in my platform. If elected in October, I will direct staff to research options, provide information and begin the process of selling Newmarket Hydro early in the next Council term. As always I am looking for feedback on this issue. Please contact me at 905.716.9655, darrylwolk@Hotmail.com or on social media.